Special Report: U.S. DENVER, the United States, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Democratic current and former officials, lawmakers, prominent figures and voters vowed their support for Barack Obama's bid for the White House as the Democratic National Convention kicked off on Monday in Denver, Colorado. About 5,000 Democratic officials, delegates from 50 states and the District of Columbia as well as U.S. territories, and foreign guests gathered here to witness the Illinois Senator's moment to accept the presidential nomination on Aug. 28, the last day of thefour-day convention. During our national convention, we will demonstrate to all Americans why we need Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House," Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in an opening address. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, noted that the country is standing at a "defining historical moment" and a "crossroad," needing a president who knows that health care is a right, quality education i...
Originally from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/26/content_9712798.htm

The word went out on Saturday morning, at 3.04am, from a laptop computer in Barack Obama's headquarters in a Chicago office building to about two million BlackBerrys and Twitters, that the Democratic vice-presidential nominee would be Joe Biden. It is one of the peculiarities of American politics that while vast numbers of people - more than 36 million in the Democratic primaries and caucuses this year - take part in the selection of the nominees for president, it is taken as an axiom that the vice-presidential nomination is selected by just one man. In contrast, the British system gives prime ministers great powers, but not the power to designate successors. So we have the spectacle of Barack Obama, in his fourth year in the Senate, choosing as his running-mate Joe Biden, who is in his 36th year in the Senate. And we have the spectacle of Mr Biden, who said last year when he was running for president that he would not accept the vice-presidential nomination, now accepting it gladly. ...
Originally from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4602019.ece